Somali pirates claim American lives

Jack Sparrow and Captain Hook are two of the most famous fictitious pirates in history. However, they are nothing like the pirates now making a living for themselves off of the Somali Coast of Africa.

Pirates — Piracy did not end with Blackbeard. The work of pirates off the coast of Africa is costing Americans’ lives. Google photo

Somali pirates claimed the lives of four Americans who were in the middle of sailing around the world on a yacht called “Quest.”

The attack occurred on the Indian Ocean on Feb. 18. Two couples were aboard the yacht: “Phyllis Macay, 59, and Robert Riggle, 67, of Seattle and the Quest’s owners, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, California,” according to MSNBC.

“The Adams have been sailing the world with a yacht full of Bibles since 2004,” the Associated Press said.

On Feb. 22, the four American missionaries were killed by Somali hijackers. The White House remained silent on the issue.

“Four Americans aboard a yacht hijacked by Somali pirates were gunned down by their captors Tuesday. U.S. forces responded to gunfire aboard the yacht Quest at approximately 1 a.m. Tuesday but discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors. Despite attempts to save their lives, all four hostages died of their wounds,” the Associated Press said.

The Somali pirates have basically declared war on any nearby yachts or civilian craft and have captured and killed numerous people. The pirates cruise around the area on large “mother-ships” and dispatch smaller fast boats to outrun civilian boats and capture them. Many times the pirates simply execute the hostages unless a military cruiser stops them.

“U.S. forces had been ‘closely monitoring’ the Quest for approximately three days with four Navy warships tasked to recover the yacht: the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, the guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf, the guided missile destroyers USS Sterett and USS Bulkeley,” MSNBC said.

Typically when a group of people or a nation begin to capture and kill .citizens of a certain country, that means they have, through their actions, declared war upon the country of said hostages. They have assaulted a vessel of the country, taken hostage citizens of that country, and then killed those citizens in cold blood.

This is not the first time rebel groups from Somalia have killed Americans and gotten away with it and even won a military victory once for their actions. In the mid-‘90s Mohamed Farrah Aidid was a warlord who began to kill United Nations soldiers who were bringing aid to the war-torn country. When the American forces began to take action, 12 soldiers were killed and 78 wounded, according to the Washington Post. At the time, President Bill Clinton ordered the rest of the forces to retreat and run back home.

“The ‘paper tiger’ theory of America cutting and running after losses was born in the minds of America’s enemies — first in Vietnam, and now reinforced in Somalia. Shortly thereafter, the American forces withdrew from that part of the world, leaving the country in turmoil for the UN and local warlords,” Military Factory.com said.

These pirates are nothing but terrorists and should be treated as such, at the receiving end of the United States collective fist.